Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1887-07-20
From Dung con to Palace.
..THE TIME OF MY DEPARTURE is
AT HAND
OUR IDEAS OF THE CHRISTIANS
DEATH ARE MORBID AND SICKLY.

AND DIsINFEcTANTs, INSTEAD OF
| SWEET WITH MIGNoNETTE.
ST. PAUL'S HOLY GLEE.
DIR. TALMAeE's SERMON, SUNDAY, JULY 10TH
| THE HAMPToNs, July 10.-The Brooklyn
Tabernacle being closed for enlargement
the Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage,D. D., pastor
spends the first Sabbath away from his
flock the present season at this summer
home. His subject for to-day was: ''F'rom
Dungeon to Palace" and his text s'The
time ofmy departure is at hand-II. limo
| thy, iv., 6.
The way out of this world is so blocked
up with coffin and hearse, and undertaken
spade and screw-driver, that the Christian
can hardly think as he ought of the most
cheerful passage in all his history. We
hang black instead of white over the place
where the good man gets his last victory.
We stand weeping over heap of chains
which the freed soul has shaken off, and we
say: "Poor man! What pity it was he
had to come to this?" Come to what2 By
the time the people have assembled at the
obsequies, that man has been three days SO
happy that all the joy of earth accumulated
would be wretchedness beside it, and he
might better weep over you because you
have to stay, than you weep over him be-
cause he has to go. 1t is fortunate thing
that a good man does not have to wait to
see his own obsequies, they would be SO
discordant with his own experiences. II
the Israelites should go back to Egypt and
mourn over the brick.kilns they once left
they would not be any more silly than that
Christian who should forsake heaven and
come down and mourn because he had to
leave this world. Our ideas of the Chris
tian's death are morbid and sickly. We
look upon it as dark hole in which man
stumbles when his breath gives out. This
whole subject is odorous with varnsh and
disinfectants. instead of being sweet with
mignonette. Paul. in my text, takes that
great clod of word ''death" and throws ii
away, and speaks Of his "departure'-a
beautiful, bright, suggestive word, descrip-
tive of every Christians release.
| Now, departure implies a starting place,
and place of destination. When Paul
left this world, what was the starting pointl
1t was scene Of great physical distress. 1t
was the Tullianum, the lower dungeon of
the Mamertine prison. The top dungeon
was bad enough, it having no means of in
gress or egress but through an opening in
the top. Through that the prisoner was
lowered, and through that came all the
food and air and light received. It was a
terrible place, that upper dungeon; but the
| Tullianum was the lower dungeon, and
that was still more wretched, the only light
and the only air coming through the roof,
and that roof the floor of the upper dun
geon. That was Paul's last earthly resi-
dence. 1t was dungeon just six feet and
| half high. It was a doleful place. 1t
had chill of long centuries Of dampness.
| 1t was filthy with the long incarcerations
of miserable wretches. 1t was there that
Paul spent his last days on earth, and it is
there that I see him to-day, in the fearful
dungeon, shivering, blue with the cold,
| waiting for that old overcoat which he had
sent for up to Troas, and which they had
| not yet sent down, Notwithstanding he had
| written for it.
If some skillful surgeon should go into
that dungeon where Paul is incarcerated we
might find out what are the prospects of
Paul's living through the rough imprison-
ment. In the first place, he is an old man,
only two years short of seventy. At that
very time, when he most needs the warmth
and the sunlight and the fresh air, he is
shut out from the sun. What are those
scars on his ankles? Why, those were got
ten when he was fast, his feet in the stocks,
Every time he turned the flesh on his an
kles started. What are those scars on his
back? You know he was whipped five
times, each time getting thirty mine strokes
-one hundred and ninety five bruises on
the back Count themD made by the Jews
with rods of elmwood; each one of the one
hundred and ninety-five strokes bringing
the blood. Look at Pauls face and look at
his arms. Where did he get those bruises?
think it was when he was struggling
ashore amidst the shivered timbers Of the
shipwreck. l see cash in Paul's side
Where did he get that? l think he got
that in the tussle with highwaymen, for he
| had been in peril of robbers, and he had
money of his own. He was mechanic as
| we'll as an apostle, and think the tents he
made were as good as his sermons.
There is wanness about Paul's looks.
What makes that? I think part of that
came from the fact that he was for twenty
| four hours on plank in the Mediterranean
sea, suffering terribly, before he was rescu-
ed, for he says positively: 81 was a night
and day in the Deep Oh, worn-out,
emaciated old man! surely you must be
melancholy; no constitution could endure
| this and he che erful. But press my way
through the prison until l come up close to
where he is, and by the faint light that
streams through the opening I see on his
face supernatural joy, and bow before
him, and l say: aged man, how can you
keep cheerful amidst all this gloom?' His
&11o. 1f Al~
he cries OUT 81 am now ready to be offer
ed, and the time of my departure is at
hand" Hark! what is that ,shuflipg ol
an invitation to banquet, and he is going
to dine to-day with the King. Those shuf,
| fling feet are the feet of the executioners.
| They come, and they Cry down through the
hole of the dungeon: ''Hurry up, old man.
Come now; get yourself ready" Why,
Paul was ready. He had nothing to pack
up. He had no passage to take. He had
been ready a good while. see him rising
! up and straightenirg out his stiffened limbs
aud pushing back his white hair from his
creviced forehead, and see him looking up
through the hole in the roof of the dungeon
into the face Of his executioner, and hear
him say: 81 am now ready to be offered,
and the time of my departure is at hand
Then they lift him out of the dungeon and
they start with him to the place of execu-
ton. They say: "Hurry along, old man,
or you will feel the weight of our spear.
Hurry along" 'How far is it, says.
Paul, "we have to travel?'' 'Three miles. y
Three miles is good way for an old mau to
travel after he has been whipped and Grip
Piled with maltreatment. But they soon
get to the place of execution-Acquae
| Salvia-ard he is fastened to the pillar OF
martyrdom. 1t does not take any strength
to tie him fast. He makes no resistance.
o Paul! why not strike for your life? You
have a great many friends here. With
that withered. hand just launch the thun-
der bolt of the people upon those Infamous
soldiers. No! Paul was not goingto inter-
fere with his own coronation. He was too
glad to go. l see him looking up in the
face of his executioner, aud, as the grim Of
fetal draws the sword, Paul calmly says:
81 am now ready to be offered, and the
time of my departure is at hand" But /
put my hand over my eyes. want not to
see that last struggle. One sharp, keen
,+rolro o,J Paul coeS CO to the han0unt.